Automatic car-fender



(No Model.)

2 SheetsSheet 1. W. B. 8?: W. H. HEYWGOD.

AUTOMATIC GAR FENDER.

Patented Jan. 25, 1898.

(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. B. & W. H. HEYWOOD. AUTOMATIC GAR FENDER.

No. 598,068. Patented Jan. 25, 1898.

UNITED STATES tries.

PATENT VHLLIAM B. HEYW'OOD AND WILLIAM H. HEYVVOOD, OF GUALALA,CALIFORNIA.

AUTOMATIC CAR-FENDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 598,068, dated January25, 1898.

Application filed July 29, 1897. Serial No. 646,359- (No model.)

- 'To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, W'ILLLLM B. HEY- W001) and WILLIAM H. Hnrwoon,citizens of the United States, residing at Gualala, Mendocino county,State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Automatic Car-Fenders, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to automatic car-fenders of that class ordescription which are adapted to pick up and carry the person struck bythe device; and the invention comprisesa certain novel construction andcombination of fender and grapple mounted for operation on the front ofthe car and mechanism whereby the same is caused to first grasp theobject struck by the fender and afterward to raise the fender andtheobject in the grapple from the surface of the track, the mechanismbeing tripped and set in motion directly by the con tact with the fenderof the person being struck by it.

The following description explains at length the nature of our saidimprovement in this class of safety devices for street-railway cars andthe manner in which weproceed to construct, produce, and apply the samefor operation, reference being had to the drawings that accompany andform part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a view in sideelevation of a safety-fender embodying our said invention mounted on thefront of a street-car and set in position for operation; Fig. 2, asimilar view of the device, showing the position assumed by the partsafter the mechanism has been tripped and the parts are in a closedposition and the device raised by the elevating mechanism. Figs. 3, 4,and 5 are details of the locking mechanism that holds the grapple fromspringing open after it is closed upon the object in its grasp. Fig. 6is a front elevation of Fig. 1 with the front frame and guard partlybroken away on one side of the vertical center. Figs. 7 and 8 are sideviews in detail and on an enlarged scale of the parts of the locking andtripping mechanism. Fig. 7 shows the parts set for action, and Fig. 8the position of the same after being tripped.

A indicates a stationary frame bolted to the front of the car, and Aupright tubular guides on the frame. B B are upright rods fitted toslide in the guides andcarrying on their upper ends a rod or bar 0,fitted to turn in eyes I) on the ends of the upright rods.

D D are curved arms having eyes (Z on their inner ends fixed on the rodC, and E is a frame secured to the outer ends of the curved arms.

and extending horizontally across the space between the two arms. Thisframe is covered with a light and strong netting E, stretched across thefront of the frame, and, if found desirable, it may be padded or.cushioned around the frame to prevent the hard unyielding surfaces fromcoming in direct contact with the body of the person being grappled.

The arms and the frame on their front ends, already described, form thatpart of the fender which we term the grapple. When set for operation, itis supported by the uprights B in a forwardlyextended position at properheight above the surface of the roadway to clear the head of a personstanding on the track in front of the car and is held in such positionby the locking lever or arm G of a tripping mechanism on the front ofthe fender. The parts of this mechanism are carried by or from arms H H,rigidly fixed in the upright rods B B, and a rocking shaft I, fitted toturn in the eyes H on the ends of the arms.

K is a guard-apron composed of a light frame of substantially arectangular shape with a yielding or elastic cover of netting stretchedacross the opening from the four corners of the frame, and L L arelever-arms fast on the rocking shaft 1, to the lower ends of which theguard-apron K is attached by ears m and pivots m The levers L L extendboth above and below the shaft I and are united at their upper ends by ahorizontal bar L. These parts L L L form a light frame behind the apronK and by which the apron is supported from the shaft I, so as to standin an upright position in front of the frame. In this position when thedevice is set ready for action the guard K covers all the parts of theoperating mechanism and receives the impact of the person struck by thethe effect to bring the lever-arms L L to an upright position, and thusproduce a partial rotation of the rocking shaft I.

G is a long arm rigidly secured by the lower end to a rock-shaft I andextending from such shaft upward to the cross-shaft O of the arms of thegrapple and terminating in a catch g, the opening of which is shaped toengage a tooth or pin a on the shaft, so as to keep the shaft fromturning, and thus hold the grapple in the raised position represented inFigs. 1 and 6. The arm G is itself operated by a tripping mechanismcomposed of two arms P P, fast on the shaft I and a crossbar P,connected to the arms P by push-rods p 132 and extending across thefront of the apron K.

The before-mentioned rods work through openings 75 in the bottom bar'ofthe apronframe and project a short distance beyond the front of theapron, so that the trippingbar P, being held by them a little in advanceof the front face of the apron K will be forced back by contact of thefender with the person struck by it, and the catch g will be acted onbefore the apron is pressed back.

When the grapple is raised and locked in open position and the trippingmechanism is set ready for action, the parts occupy the pothe forwardmovement of the car is designed to be caught and held between theupright fender-apron K and the grapple, which turns downward in an arefrom the center of its movement located above the fender-apron. At theend or lowest point of such movement the grapple is automatically lockedand held in closed position by a spring-bolt S, working through a holein the upright rod B, and a series of ratchet-teeth or notches S on theface of the hub 61 in the end of the grapplearm fitted on the shaft 0.

When the grapple is raised and set, for action, the bolt S is drawn backto clear thenotches. The parts of this locking device are represented indetail in Figs. 3, 4, and 5. After the fender and grapple have struckand closed upon a person they are raised by elevating mechanism composedof the two weighted levers T T, carrying heavy blocks T on the ends oftheir longer arms and having the ends of their shorter arms restingagainst studs H on'the perpendicular slide rods B of the fender.

The levers T T are held up in working position and the weight of theblocks T is reinbefore described. I lower ends of which are pivoted thefender K, are set at an inclination backward, with moved from the rod Bbyatappet-arm R on a rock-shaft R, which projects under the longer armof the lever between its fulcrum i and the weight, the rock-shaft Rbeing supported at the outer ends in projecting arms or lugs on thesliding frame.

The tappet R, extending rearwardly under the lever T, is kept in ahorizontal position by locking the rock-shaft R against turning underthe pressureof the lever upon the tappet-arm. The locking deviceemployed for this purpose consists of a tooth R, fixed in the rock-shaftB, and a latch R pivoted I at r in a lug on the sliding frame, the latchhaving a square shoulder on the under side, against which the toothbears when the latch is turned down into horizontal position over I it.A spring holds down the latch when it is set to engage the tooth of therock-shaft, and in that position, which is. represented in Fig. ?7, theforward end of the latch is made to rest upon a pin I fixed in the crossbar or rod I on the back of the fender-frame and on which are fastenedthe lever-arms L L, here- These arms L, to the the lower end standingforward when the device is arranged in position for action, and at suchtime, the latch I being turned down upon the tooth R to lock therock-shaft R, the pin I of the rod I will stand horizontally backwardbeneath the forward end of the latch.

. To the same rod or rock-shaft I on the fender is fixed the arm G,already described, 1 which holds the grapple E, and thus by the backwardmovement of the lower ends of the lever-arms L L both the grapple isreleased and allowed to drop and the latch R is thrown ofi the tooth ofthe rock-shaft B. This operation of the tripping mechanism will beunderstood from Fig. 8 of the drawings, where the parts are representedas being thrown 01f by the contact of the lower part of the fender withan obstacle on the track. The weighted levers T T are not shown in thesetwo views; but by referring to Figs. 1 and 6 the position of thetappet-fingers R directly under the lever T will be understood.

. The arms L'are set and held in a position inclined backward out of theVertical by a pivoted latch U, arranged to engage a stationary cross-barA of the fixed frame and attached at U to the back of the cross-bar L ofthe frame of which the arms L L are a part. A tripping-arm W, carried bythe rockshaft I of the grapple-releasing mechanism and fast on thatshaft, is arranged to throw up the latch U at the end of the backwardmovement of the tripping-bar P and thus allow the frame to take anupright position, by virtue of which movement the weights are releasedand caused to act upon the slide-rods B. Spring-tongues Y are placedabove the latches and prevent them from being accidentally thrown offbysudden movements or jolts of the car, and springs Z are interposedbetween the apron K and the carrying-frame to check the force of thebackward movement of the apron at its time of action. The parts of thislocking and tripping mechanism are shown in Fig. 7 in position set foraction, and in Fig. 8 the position of the same parts when the trip issprung and the fender elevated. These views do not show the weightedlevers, but the position and movements of those parts with relation tothe fender and the tripping mechanism will be understood by reference toFigs. 12 and 6, in which the levers are shown in position elevated andready for action.

As thus constructed the operation of the grappling and lifting mechanismwill be as follows: The weighted ends of the lifting-levers T are raisedand held up by setting the tappets R under the longer arms and closingthe latch R down upon the tooth of the rockshaft B after theapron-carrying frame L has been set back on its inclined position tobring the tripping-tooth I on the shaft directly beneath the end of thelatch R, this position of the frame being maintained by the latch U.Finally, the grapple is turned up into the open position until the toothn on the shaft 0 slips into the notch or the end of the locking lever orarm Gr. Such positions and adj ustment of the parts are shown in Figs.1, 6, and 7, and thus set the apron K and the grapple are carried andextend in front of the car ready for action. At the time of contact witha person struck by the moving car the tripping-bar P first striking theperson is pressed in, and by virtue of its backward movement thelocking-arm G is tripped and the grapple is released, after which thefender-apron is pressed back and the two latches R U are thrown off, oneslightly in advance of the other, thereby releasing the frame L andafterward the weighted levers. These lastmentioned parts are so timed intheir movements that the slide-rods B B are lifted by the weightedlevers as the grapple has about completed its downward movement and theperson is grasped between the grapple and the apron. The leversT are soarranged that the movement of their shorter members is sufl'icient toelevate the fender several inches vertically and thereby lift the personin its grasp clear of. the surface, so as not to come into rough contactwith the roadway in the forward movement of the car, due to its movementafter the power has been cut off and before the brakes have acted.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a car-fender, the combination of the vertically-movable frame,weighted levers adapted to raise said frame to an elevated position; alocking device holding said levers out of action; a tripping deviceadapted to release said levers from the lock and having a tripping-barprojecting in front of the fender; a guard frame or apron mounted on themovable frame in substantially an upright position across the openingbelow the carbody; standards on'said movable frame extending upward to apoint above the car-platform; swinging arms pivoted to the upper" endsof said standards and extending horizontally forward over the track; agrappleframe attached to the outer ends of said arms and extendingacross the open space between said arms; a locking device adapted tohold said arms in elevated position over the track; and a trippingdevice operated by or from the push-bar of the weight-releasing deviceto release the said arms and allow the same to swing downward and closeupon the guardapron.

ing frame mounted on the front of the car, and carrying a guard-apronand a swinging grappleframe adapted by its movement downward in avertical are from a position above and in advance of the guard-apron toclose 0 upon said apron; of counterweights connected to said slidingframe and adapted by their weight to elevate said frame and raise theguard-apron and grapple into a higher position from the ground afterthey are closed upon each other, a locking device holding said weightsout of action, and a releasing mechanism by which the said weights areset free and allowed to act.

In testimony that we claim the foregiong we have hereuntoset our handsand seals.

XVILLIAM B. HEYVVOOD. [L. s.] l/VILLIAM H. I-IEYWOOD. [L. s]

Witnesses to William B. Heywood:

C. W. M. SMITH, EDWARD E. OSBORN.

Witnesses to William H. Heywood:

W. W. ST. Osns, W. S. MA TIN.

2. The combination with the vertically-slid- 8

